Amid the squeeze on living standards, there are reasons to be hopeful

If the economy goes on growing at a decent clip, and if the job market remains as strong as it is now, then everything starts to look better, writes Hamish McRae

Anyone who can remember the soaring price increases of the 1970s and 1980s will know that inflation is a rough old beast (PA Wire)

The financial squeeze tightens, and next two months will be quite a scary time for a lot of people in the UK. There will be the budget on 23 March, when it is expected that Rishi Sunak will confirm the increase in National Insurance contributions. Energy bills will be coming through then at much higher levels and general inflation will be reaching its peak.

All this will come on the top of higher interest rates, and we are likely to see the Bank of England increase rates to 0.5 per cent after its Monetary Policy Committee meets this week. So how bad will the squeeze be?

Start with what happens this week. The move to 0.5 per cent from the Bank is almost certain, and the financial markets expect the rate to go to 1 per cent by the summer. This will inevitably increase the cost of tracker mortgages, where the rate is linked directly to official rates.